The Arrow in the Admirer
by Tallielle
Summary: It is nearing Valentine's Day when Booth and Bones are assigned to a strange case involving horses, heroes and heart shaped arrows. Will all things "H" lead to disaster?What does the oncoming holiday hold for our DD? And where does Hannah fit into it all?
1. Chapter 1Part I

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the universe portrayed in this fanfic. That all belongs to Fox and HH and all those awesome people who give us the wonderful show known as Bones.**

**Chapter 1: Life Less Ordinary Part I **

**Note: All lyrics belong to Carbon Leaf. **

**"Live a life less ordinary**

**Live a life extraordinary with me**

**Live a life less sedentary**

** Live a life evolutionary with **

** me." **

** Brennan's POV**

In my office the quiet rush of the lab resounds around me. Rain pounds the building from outside, driving down in large sheets, the daggers of silver pelting the ground with shivery, cold needles.

I spread my fingers out on the desk in front of me and study my hands. My small shapely hands that can reconstruct a skull out of the tiniest fragments without so much a twitch give a little tremor. I have been uneasy in my alone time these days. I am not good at being vulnerable, exposed.

I sigh like a defeated child and place them back into my lap. Things have been different since my completely irrational confession of my feelings to Booth. Things have been different...and yet the same. I have started to loathe my time alone with myself because I have been playing the common man's game of what if. What if I had told Booth sooner? What if I had stopped masking my fear with science for one second and opened myself to the pain of truly loving him?

No what ifs, Brennan. That is what I tell myself to quell the feeling of drowning I get alone in my bed in the middle of the night. What ifs are illogical. All we have are reactions. Facts. Cold hard evidence. I frown. If only I had gauged my own reactions before, and put myself under the microscope and examined the facts.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

Booth's voice pops into my head.

But this isn't small stuff. Love is huge, horrendous, scary, gigantic stuff. It is basically a verifiable mountain of stuff. So I am sweating it, and sweating it hard. And in typical Brennan fashion, I am going to hold back until I have everything clearly sorted out inside me. A little organization of a lot of stuff never hurt anyone. In fact, I think if everyone organized their mass amounts of stuff the world would run a lot more smoothly.

I frown as I wonder what Sweets would think about that statement. It came dangerously close to being almost some sort of psychological analyzation. I bite back a dry laugh. Love and psychology? My word Dr. Brennan, what is becoming of you?

Well maybe I won't be actually respecting a soft science like psychology anytime soon, but the love/stuff thing is definitely real.

I sigh again and bitterly think I must sound like and old wind-bag or sleepy dog with the amount of air I have been expelling lately. But I know the scientific reason why I have been doing it-sighing releases stress and as much as I hate to admit it, I have been under a lot of stress the past couple of weeks. A lot of stress from my stuff. Very scientific.

Booth.

So many other times I have been faced with him being in danger of dying. One time I even though he was dead. And I how did I deal with that? Compartmentalization, denial, a bitter, snappish mood. How had that not made me realize I loved him?

I take a deep breath and lean back into my chair, closing my eyes. Compartmentalize. That is what I need to do now. Fortunately it is something I am good at, a skill that is part of a subset I developed as a defense mechanism when I was young. So because I love him, I pack the love I have for him away in the Pandora's box I carry inside. There it can rot away with all of the other bad or painful forgotten things.

He will be happy with Hannah. And because he is happy, I will be happy too. And that is that.

Or so I tell myself, in the most logical manner possible.

Familiar footsteps echo a hard click-clack in the hall. I shoot up from my relaxed position and frown ever so slightly before he turns the corner into my office. He seems bouncy today. I, on the other hand, am feeling a lot less than bouncy.

"Hello Wednesday Adams." he chirps, "Don't we just look like a ball of sunshine today?"

Another pop-culture reference. I can never fake knowing with him so I just offer a weak "Wednesday Adams?" before he tells me to forget it and "Buck up buttercup, because we have a case!"

I bristle slightly.

"You caught me in a pensive moment." I mutter as I grab my coat and gear and prepare to head out into the field with him.

"What were you thinking about?" he prods curiously as we walk out towards the doors to the parking lot.

My mind whirs with excuses, but all that comes out of my mouth is, "Stuff."

He gives me a sideways look.

"Are you feeling alright? Did someone slip some cuckoo in your cocoa puffs this morning? You seem a little off kilter."

I offer a smile as I feel the Pandora's box inside of me fully click shut. Compartmentalization, done.

"I'm fine, I promise." Lame, Temperance, lame. Couldn't your fully functional, brilliant mind come up with something better than an "I'm fine?" Fortunately for me Booth doesn't push, he just gives me that wicked grin of his and blurts out one of his trademark cheesy lines.

"Alright then little lady, but your cowboy boots on and prepare to ride. We have a whole horse farm to process for evidence."

I roll my eyes. This should be interesting.


	2. Chapter I Part II

**Chapter I: Part II**

**Booth's POV**

I glance over at Bones again.

"You can go faster you know. We can put the blue light on if you want." I bark not meaning to sound harsh. But she is going a lot slower than I usually do when going to crime scenes. I feel my face pull into a frown regretting the fact that I let her drive today. I couldn't help it though. She had looked so much like a kicked puppy when I entered her office this morning that I just had thrown her the keys. The small smile of joy she had offered when she had the keys in her hand had been enough to put me at ease...at the time. Now she was driving slow. And we were in the middle of nowhere.

From the driver's seat Bones shrugs and then gives me a sideways glance out of the corner of her eye.

"What's the rush, Booth? The person is already deceased, it's not like we can save them."

I shift uncomfortably in my seat-which is usually HER seat- and turn to stare out the window. I hate not being in control. The SUV rolls to the stop at a red light.

"C'mon, Bones! You can at least put the blue light on to go through the red light!" Did I fail to mention that we are on a dirt country-road in the middle of rural Virginia and that I haven't seen another car for the past twenty minutes? I look around and feel a slight shiver run from the top of my head to the end of my spine. All I can think of is the movie Deliverance. I almost want to make a crack joke about it, just so I can tell her to "never mind" about what Deliverance is.

Bones ignores my statement but then guns the SUV when the light turns. Why does she always have to take me so literally? All she had to do was go a little faster, not bring the needle up into the red zone-on a dirt road.

I lurch forward in my seat and nearly slam my head into the windshield. We go careening over the bumpy road and I can feel my bones rattling. I hope that we are close to the crime scene.

She lets up on the pedal and then turns and looks at me as if to tell me that there is always a reason she wants it done her way.

Our dynamic has changed a bit since her admission of her feelings several weeks ago. I thought I felt her opening up again and it almost felt as if we were back-really back, baby. But today is different. Today I can feel her almost pulling back from me-she feels more guarded then she was even just yesterday. I want to break down that wall again but I feel like a guy trying to break out of prison with a spoon. I thought I had escaped, but today I find another obstacle in my way.

Damn! I suddenly remember that I have to ask Sweets about a dream I had the other night. Actually, I have had it for a couple nights in a row now. In it, I propose to Hannah and when I look back up from opening the ring box I see Bones. I always wake up before anything else can happen.

I press my face to the window, and a flash of Parker smashing his nose against the window of my truck on vacation rushes into my mind. "Are we there yet?" echoes faintly in my ears and I bite back a laugh. Parker is probably just like me-he'd rather be driving.

Suddenly a rickety old white farm-house with a veranda full of broken spokes pokes into view. I swear there should have been a sign somewhere that said "Welcome to Appalachian Country-home of the creepy."

Bones pulls up the long dirt drive and I can see the familiar crime scene bustle gathered about the Barn.

"Booth, we're here."

I sigh, and probably look as creeped out as I feel because she gives a little wiggle from the driver's seat.

"I said that only because you looked like your mind was somewhere else."

"Oh-thanks." I say with both of my eyebrows raised. That was almost a Sweets caliber statement.

We sit for another minute and then Bones jerks open the drivers side door and hops out. It briefly occurs to me that she was waiting for me to try and open the door for her. I scratch my head and wonder why I hadn't had the impulse to reach over her lap and open it for her. Today is a very off day for us and I hope we both loosen up soon. Springing into action on a case usually gets us to relax around each other. It is like muscle memory kicks in and we are back to where we were before I blurted out my feelings too soon. I hop out of the car and shake off the uneasy feeling that this place gives me.

I take one look at the LEO's swarming the place and feel a cold fist clench in my stomach. There are too many of them here for it to be someone of insignificance. Either that or-

"It's a child." Bones chirps quietly next to me, "It has to be."


	3. Chapter 1 Part III

**Note: I edited this so now Brennan says, "Any special plans for Valentine's Day" instead of asking if Booth has plans with Hannah. **

**Also! If you like it, feel free to leave some love and feedback in the forms of reviews! I always like those! Another new Chapter will be up today!**

Chapter I: Part III

**3rd Person POV **

Cam glanced up at the approaching duo with an odd glint in her eyes. She shook her head slightly and looked down at the body again. With Valentine's day being so close, it was really an odd coincidence how the victim was killed.

"You aren't going to believe this." she sang up to the partners who were now in speaking range. A slight frown pulled at her lips as she took in Brennan, who seemed kind of sour today. If she didn't know any better, Cam would have said that it might be brought on by the oncoming romantic holiday. But Cam did know better and knew that Dr. Brennan did not believe in Valentine's day and called it a "Hallmark Holiday." Angela had tried to convince the anthropologist that Valentine's Day was not only for giving extravagant amounts of money to the gifting business to show your lover appreciation, but could also be used as a vehicle to show other people in your life how much you care about them.

Booth's eyebrows shot up as he took in the badly decomposed body. He shot a faintly amused look at Cam.

"Cupid? Really? Cupid killed our victim?"

Cam chuckled. "It would appear that way, wouldn't it? If Cupid were real, of course." she shrugged, "at least we know the murder weapon." She winced a bit as she worked the arrow free of the victims chest cavity. Sometimes she sincerely wondered how she put up with the gore day after day without it getting to her. Her eyes went wide and as she showed the arrowhead to Booth. "It does kind of look like a heart, doesn't it?"

"Cam, arrow slinging winged cherubs are not real. A person with wings is a scientific impossibility."

Booth rolled his eyes. "I am surprised you even know who Cupid is. Okay, anyway chop chop, hit me with some information, Bones." he seemed impatient. "Do your squinty mumbo jumbo."

Brennan glared at him with a rather unappreciative look before bending down to examine the body. "Male. Late teens."

Crap, Booth thought, that is why the place was swarming with LEOs. He felt a tight sensation in his stomach. He had a particular distaste for cases where the victims were so young. He especially hated having to inform the parents. He looked at Bones again and frowned. Thankfully his partner had grown a little more sensitive to people's feelings over the past couple years. No...sensitive was not the word. Informed. That was the word he was looking for. Informed. Bones had become informed of the proper way to deal with normal human beings in a highly emotional situation.

"Judging by the skull and other racial indicators I would say that he was caucasian. Occupational stress markers would indicate that he was a...horseback rider of some sort. It also looks as if he was an avid baseball player, there is wear on this rotator cuff here consistent with a repetitive throwing motion. He must have had a slight limp due to a broken leg that never healed quite right. There is indication of trauma induced Psuedo Arthroses here." she gestured to the victim's left leg before barreling. She barely took a breath. "He also has evidence of both Parry and Colle's fractures. This indicates a struggle possibly before the arrow was shot. After the arrow was shot the victim more than likely tried to catch himself as he went down." she threw her arms out in a quick pantomime. She frowned. "It would seem death was not instantaneous." she pointed to the boy's ulna and distal radius. "Cause of death is obvious. A bleed-out due to an arrow to the chest." she said this last part slowly, in an almost disbelieving voice.

Booth whistled. "You are really on your game today Bones." He offered her a flash of his charming Seeley Booth smile and a wink before giving the signal for everyone to wrap it up and get everything back to the lab.

She blinked at him. "Thanks." Booth normally didn't offer such compliments on her performance and it usually didn't matter since she didn't put much stock in compliments as it were. Today was different for some reason. Today it had touched her a little bit. She shook off the slight tightness in her chest and regarded Booth with a steady gaze as they made their way back to their vehicle.

"So, any special plans for Valentine's Day?" before Booth could even formulate a sentence to reply she spoke again. "You know I really don't understand how the holiday became as commercialized as it is. It was supposed to be the feast day for a little known Catholic saint. Of course, you probably know that Booth." she said this candidly and without guile, so he refrained himself from interrupting. "Like Christmas, the modern holiday springs from a mix of the pagan and Christian traditions. I, for one think Lupercalia was a much more interesting practice."

"Luper-ca-who?"

"It was a Roman Festival Party in honor of the Wolf-Goddess Lupa. A sacrifice of animals was made after which a great feast was had. During the feast days many male nobles and youths of the city would run through the streets naked while the female members of society would purposely get in their way and..."

Booth put up a hand. "Alright, alright! Enough! I think I like Valentine's day a hell of a lot better than Lupacadoozle."

"Lupercalia."

"Right."


	4. Chapter I part IV

**Notes: Thanks for all the favorites and "watch this story"s! Leave me some love in the form of reviews if you are enjoying it! I'd love some feedback!**

**Chapter 1: Part IV**

**3rd Person POV**

"Oh man." Hodgins smirked from where he was holding up the arrow. "This is seriously cool." His gloved hand turned the arrow every which way in front of his wide blue eyes. Booth could tell he was enjoying having the thing in his jurisdiction. "From what I can tell it is custom made. The shaft is made out of what looks to be Port Orford Cedar and the fletching is wild turkey feathers. The arrow is obsidian."

"Okay, Mr. Ballistics expert, what does that tell us?" Booth was a little prickly today, especially since everywhere he went he had to be reminded of his recently single status.

Hodgins just took the comment in stride and smirked at Booth. "It does tell us something Booth. In fact it tells us a lot. An arrow like this is basically a calling card. The killer you are looking for is probably an arrowsmith himself, or uses one. He uses a natural, traditional bow in the Native American style. And judging by the direct strike to the victims heart, he is very skilled."

"Okay, thanks." Booth now knew where to begin the line of questioning. This case was going to be quite interesting.

"No problemo, man."

Booth turned back around to peek over his shoulder. "Hey Hodgins?"

"Yeah."

"What did you do on the Valentine's Day after you and Ange broke your engagement?"

Hodgins froze. The question was super personal and painted Booth in a very vulnerable light. The entomologist quickly regained his composure and decided to answer truthfully. He offered the Special Agent a big smile.

"You really wanna know man? I threw myself an anti-valentines day party. I invited a couple of my friends over and just had a good time. It almost made me entirely forget about why I wasn't with the person I loved most in life."

"Huh." Booth just grunted and walked away. "Anti-Valentines day."

"And how did that make you feel?"

"Sweets, you know what? I actually don't want to talk about this right now. Sorry, I thought I did. I was wrong. Not ready." The special agent glowered at the baby-faced therapist. Somehow the pre-pubescent looking man had a very distinct way of getting under Booth's skin exactly when he didn't want his skin to be crawled under.

"Well, Booth I would imagine that Valentine's day would be an especially hard time for you after the recent..." Sweets cleared his throat, "events. It probably brings up some unresolved feelings and some very real fears..."

"Fears, schmears." Booth rolled his eyes. "I'm fine Sweets. Okay? Just fine. In fact, I am having an ANTI Valentines party. Yeah. And inviting all my friends. Right. You and Daisy are invited. And so is Cam and Dr. What's his face. Hodgins and Angela. And Bones. Bones will be there. It is going to be nice. Real nice. Just a group of people who love each other saying that they don't need a special holiday to say it."

Lance raised his eyebrows at the rambling FBI agent. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could even squeak out a response Booth clapped him so hard on the back he was nearly winded.

"Thanks for the talk boy-genius. You were really helpful." Booth started to whistle a tune as he walked away.

Sweets stood in stunned silence for a second. "I was? Wait...Booth! You are just attempting to cover up the problem...not fix it! Booth!"

Booth smiled to himself as he strolled down the hall. Anti-Valentine's day. What a perfect idea.


End file.
